Monday, October 27, 2008

Is Haiti and the Dominican Republic (Hispaniola) the site of the "lost Civilization" of Atlantis? Atlantis is the legendary island first mentioned by Plato in a series of dialogues. A group of scientist plan to hold a conference next month to explore this subject. Their hypothesis is simple: "...Haiti (Quisqueya) being the remain of the lost Island of Atlantis."

When I heard this theory or hypothesis, I was skeptical. Wasn't Atlantis lost under water? Wouldn't you have to be as "guileless" as a Taino Indian to believe this theory?

It was on the island of Quiskeya (Taino for mother of the earth), the land now divided into the two political zones of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, that historians believe that the world's first complete and total genocide was perpetrated by the Spanish Conquistadors. I've met one Haitian who believes that he is descended from the Taino, so how true that is may be disputed by some.

I read that Plato put forth the "myth" of Atlantis for political reasons, so maybe the "scientist" who are proposing this connection have an agenda. After all, Haiti was once united under the rule of one central government after the Haitian Revolution. Though the inhabitants of the eastern portion of Haiti, who fancied themselves "Spanish", then as now, hated and reviled the Haitians who brought freedom from colonial rule and the end of slavery. In fact, in the Dominican Republic, the "natives" celebrate freedom from Haitian rule rather than freedom from Spanish rule. The feeling being that there is more "honor" and "prestige" in being of Spanish/European descent then of Haitian descent. The irony is that many of the same people who claim "Spanish" ancestry, look more Haitian or African then some native Haitians. And many have close Haitian relatives. Case in point, Rafael Trujillo who ordered the massacre of over 20,000 Haitians. Tujillo was one-quarter Haitian. His grandmother was Haitian.

Haiti does have one unfortunate and tragic resemblance to Atlantis in that Haiti does face the threat of rising oceans. Haiti may in fact sink beneath the ocean as the "mythical" island of Atlantis did. Global warming's effects are evident in the receding and disintegrating glacier and ice shelves. In 2006, in a report commissioned by the British government, a grim picture emerged of the future without prompt action to stem carbon emissions:

“Millions will die from malnutrition, diarrhoea, malaria and dengue fever unless effective controls are in place. There will be acute risks all over the world from the Inuits in the Arctic to the inhabitants of small islands in the Caribbean and Pacific”.

...200 million people are at risk of being driven from their homes by flood or drought... by 2050 60 million Africans could be exposed to Malaria if world temperatures rise by 2°C... 4 billion people could suffer from water shortages if temperatures rise by 2°C.

...The report tells the Caribbean nothing new when it says that rising sea levels will pose serious risks and demand increasing coastal protection. But, it makes the point that, in addition to small islands, coastal cities such as New York and Miami in the US, Mumbai and Calcutta in India, London in the UK and Honk Kong and Shanghai in China would also be flooded.

Hurricanes are occurring with more frequency and violence, bringing such total devastation and catastrophic loss that an Atlantis like occurrence resonates with anyone who is caught in the eye of the storm.

The Price of Sugar (2007)
In the Dominican Republic dispossessed Haitians are under armed guard on plantations harvesting sugarcane, most of which ends up in US kitchens. Cutting cane by machete, they work 14 hour days, 7 days a week, frequently without access to decent housing, electricity, clean water, education, healthcare or adequate nutrition.
Link to full length movie here:The Price Of Sugar

Edwidge Danticat – Reknown author:

Association of Haitian Journalists:

BOYCOTT the Dominican Republic as a rogue nation for making apartheid legal in the Western Hemisphere. Demand international sanctions and that Haiti's government STOP all trade/commerce with the DR and deport the DR ambassador and staff back to DR, recall its ambassador and staff from the DR IMMEDIATELY. Sign the petition

Lynching is an old U.S. Jim Crow method of terrorizing the African-American community. Lynching has been revived by ISIS.

Haitians are the least violent people in the Caribbean. Nations such as the colonized DR have 4 times more violence, larger militarized forces, more foreign owned property and lots of pedophile tourists and prostitution. US' colonization of the DR since the failed 1963 independence struggle, has made Dominican women the 4th most trafficked prostitutes in the world (after Brazil, Thailand, and the Philippines).

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Clean Water for Everyone in Haiti

Zili Dlo 2012 - Dream of a lifetime begins: Peasant Haiti mothers have arrived in India for training, two villages await for the light and help these mothers
will bring back PHOTOS

This summer, for Bwa Kayiman 2012 join Ezili's HLLN in partnership to help transfer solar engineering skills to Haitian women. Solar power will make Haiti's rural women and urban poor less dependent on USAID/ UN /NGOs.
WATCH THIS VIDEO and envision barefoot solar engineers for Haiti.
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Forwarded by Ezili's Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network

The Seizure of Haiti by the US: A Report on the Military Occupation of Haiti and the

History of the Treaty Forced Upon Her

Issued by The Foreign Policy Association

Endorsed & distributed by The National Popular Government League - April 1922

"Every material statement made in this document is derived from the Official Report of the Hearings before a Select Committee of the U.S. Senate pursuant to Senate Resolution 112, authorizing an inquiry into the occupation and administration of the territories of the Republic of Haiti..."

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Haitian Peasants Against Monsanto

A large demonstration of at least 10,000 farmers had occurred in central Haiti on Friday, June 4. organized by "Mouvman Peyizan Papay" or MPP, the peasants and a contingent of youths from the capital marched for three hours to the town of Hinche to protest the American multinational company Monsanto and demand the burning of 475 tons of roundup ready genetically modified seeds the company was trying to "give" Haiti.